Story 2 Followup · 8:15pm Aug 13th, 2013
So...the ending to the second story of my series got a lot of responses. The majority of them were patient people who were willing to wait until Story 3 came out. I thank those of you for your support. The remainder of responses expressed everything from frustration at my decision to cut off the story there before a proper resolution (which is a valid complaint), to a very very small number of readers who resorted to infantile whining because, apparently, the story wasn't going the way they wanted it to or didn't have the stomach for an ambiguous ending that doesn't tie everything up into a nice neat little package for them.
I'll get onto the actual reasons for my decision. I debated long and hard from the moment I started Promise over whether or not to end it there. Ultimately, I am not absolutely certain I made the right decision. But, in the end, it remains my decision, I ask you respect that. As for why, well, it had to do with how the chapters that follow it go. The following chapter, which is now Chapter 1 of Story 3, does move towards resolving Dawn's character arc from Story 2, as do the chapters that follow. Unfortunately, at the same time, they also begin the process of transitioning into the next story arc, which is what will be featured in Story 3. Unlike with the first story arc, which ended in Chapter 15 so neatly I could've tied it off with a bow, there is just no genuine cutoff point that I could use in the following chapters to tie everything up as nicely as I did for Story 1. Considering that, I felt a decisive cliffhanger was as good a place as any to leave off.
Ultimately, while I may have my doubts about my decision, the fact that it garnered as many passionate responses as it did means that I've certainly done something right if I've gotten my readers so emotionally invested in it that they fly off the handle because of the turn it took. Is it narrative trolling? Yes. Is it a cheap way to ratchet up the tension before the intro to Story 3? You bet. Do I regret it? No.
So there you have it. I doubt this will satisfy my detractors, but I've made my choice and I'm sticking to it.
I believe the story ended brilliantly and I wait eagerly for the 3rd
OK I'm a dedicated reader of your series: Savage Skies and the 3rd story shouldn't even take that long to get out sure you didn't finish it off with a bow but that's the thing that makes it good!
1282973 It's pending approval right now.
I really loved the ending
My general feeling on it is that the story should have ended on an emotional cliffhanger rather than a physical one. The question of the story isn't, "How successful is Dawn at beating people up?" It's, "How will Dawn cope with a normal life after his past?" If you can't resolve that issue in this story, that's fine, but the question of whether Dawn was going to die isn't one I was asking, even if there seemed to be a path to that conclusion. I don't know exactly how the story is going to go, likely by design, but I've gotta figure that an explanation for the odd execution plan is forthcoming in the near future, and it's a thing that should probably have been revealed in the story. It's a thing far more shrouded in mystery than the outcome of the battle, and I don't know that it should have been.
Now, as for what I think you should do, my question is whether you need to split this story in two at all. The narrative arc of this story clearly isn't complete, which means that the story is actually just not done. Ultimately, if there's going to be a new narrative arc introduced midway through this arc, it seems significantly more important that each story at least finishes something. If you can't cut something off neatly, don't cut it off at all. It's just like the structure of any other element of a story. You don't cut off a paragraph just because it looks too long compared to the others. You cut it off because the idea of that paragraph has been completed. Sure, sometimes you might restructure things a little so that you don't have a super bulgy paragraph, but if you can't, it's better to just keep it as is. In the same way, I think it's better to have one story with two arcs than one story with half an arc. That's my understanding of the ideal way to structure a narrative, anyways.
1283069 Well, considering the responses I got, I figured the cliffhanger was pretty emotional.
As for splitting the story, its overall length isn't the reason I chose to split it into segments. As the story progresses through various narrative arcs, its focus and genre shift. For example, the first two were largely slice of life (maybe I should throw in the sad tag too). This next one, is going to be more of and adventure and romance-based story (adventure being declared incompatible with the slice of life tag by the admins, a decision I disagree with, but oh well). Also, as more characters come into play, some come into prominence, while others fade into the background for a little while. Splitting stories leaves me free to change character and genre tags up between them to highlight the ones that stand out for that particular arc, which gives me the opportunity to draw in more readers. So...marketing basically.
1283093
I suppose there's a logic to that. The fight just feels rather disconnected from everything when we don't even know the motivation behind it. My thinking is it might have been better if that part had come before the story's end, but I obviously don't know the exact way things proceed from here, so I dunno how possible that is. As is, the story definitely feels at least somewhat incomplete, and not in a regular cliffhangery way either. I don't know if there's some ideal format where it wouldn't feel like that, but it's a problematic thing.
Well at least you acknowledge it. I stand by what I said on the twist and ending (that it's manipulative and insulting to your audience), but getting the next part out so soon has done a lot to mitigate my upset. All in all, I strongly disagree with the decision you made-- I do not deny that, as your story, it is your decision, but it was still a decision that, even with the followup coming so soon afterwards, has made me think somewhat less of you as an author.
Maybe I'm being overly judgmental-- I don't really know, because I don't really know of a standardized "normal" amount of judgement to compare myself against. So I could be way off base here, but I'm just offering my thoughts on it, for whatever they are worth.
Even so, I'm still going to keep reading. This is really the first major issue I've had with the story (er... stories), and I'm already invested in the characters, so unless the updates completely stop, I'll probably be following along for a while yet. Well, barring more situations that leave me feeling like you're just trying to blatantly play your audience for feels. Because, I'm not going to lie, that really left a bad taste in my mouth.
I didnt panic because you said very early on that these stories are pretty much done buy the time you post the first chapter and I knew if I was patient the next story would be out soon
That and dawn is the protagonist and this story dosent have the tragity tag... Actually none of them in this series have that tag
And sence some of your inspirationfor the martial arts in this came from(and im reaching here) shonin. Works (which screams manga to me) means I can take a un offical rule. From them and use it here... If you dont actually see the death blow or their passing they are not dead
I'll admit that where you ended story two infuriated me.. until I stopped to think about it.
If a reader decides not to read story three, Dawn's death and ultimately finding peace works as a proper ending.
So, kudos too you.
and you made me late for work this morning. not really, I made me late because I was reading your work.
I will admit, I was partially among those people and was kinda miffed at the way it turned, but I highly respect you in the fact that you did what you wanted and are sticking with it, despite all the commentary. I look forward to catching up on the new story.
The ending didn't really infuriate me so much as it just felt awkward. As a writer myself, I believe ANYTHING is in the realm of possibility when it comes to writing. If you want something to turn out perfectly then you have got the power to do it, because other than that, I'm just gonna assume you have put yourself on a timer and you ran out.